SRC-586

Overcoming the rate-power trade-off: multi-junction photovoltaic receivers for efficient near-infrared power and gigabit data transmission; npj Wireless Technology 2:65 (2026); doi 10.1038/s44459-026-00079-2; open access CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

Commissioned by Fraunhofer ISE; University of Cambridge. Who paid for a study is recorded because it bears on how its conclusions should be read, not because it makes them wrong.

Published claims resting on this source

• CLM-1110 The best near-infrared laser-to-electricity receiver so far turns 56 per cent of the light into electricity, but only when the light is 271 kilowatts per square metre, a thousand times brighter than the microwave design beam. At the level the authors call eye-safe, about 270 times lower, it turns about 30 per cent into a couple of milliwatts, while also carrying gigabit data.
• CLM-1111 Before this paper, the best near-infrared laser receivers reached about half efficiency, and only under very bright light; at gentler light they manage a fifth to a bit under a half. Receivers for shorter-wavelength light do better, nearly 69 per cent, but the paper prefers the near-infrared band on eye-safety and atmospheric grounds.
• CLM-1112 The paper says this colour of infrared is good because the air lets it through and the eye-safety rules allow more of it, but it cites other papers for both and never gives a number for either.
• CLM-1113 This paper does not describe a laser power satellite, though two NASA-funded designs for one exist from 1978-80. It does show how a laser receiver behaves: it needs light about a thousand times brighter than the microwave beam to work well, and even at the level the authors call eye-safe it is about a third as efficient as the microwave receiver.

Cite this